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Ballots: In the local elections, fewer people voted for the AfD than expected
Photo: Sebastian Gollnow / dpa
The Christian Democrats remain the dominant party in Saxony's districts.
According to the preliminary results of the local elections, the CDU was clearly in first place in all districts up for election, except for Central Saxony.
Runoff elections are due in the counties on July 3.
In the state capital of Dresden, incumbent Dirk Hilbert (FDP) was ahead – but he too has to face another ballot.
Only in northern Saxony and the district of Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains have the CDU incumbents already achieved an absolute majority and will certainly keep their posts.
The AfD performed significantly worse than expected in the nine districts.
In the district of Mittelsachsen, where the party had calculated the best chances of winning the first district post nationwide, the non-party candidate Dirk Neubauer was clearly ahead of the AfD candidate Rolf Weigand after the first ballot.
The North Saxon District Administrator Kai Emanuel defended his office with 62.9 percent of the votes.
The non-party Emanuel, who ran for the CDU, left Uta Hesse, the candidate of the right-wing extremist Freie Sachsen, clearly behind.
She received 20 percent of the votes.
The Christian Democrat Michael Geisler remains in the district office of Pirna.
He received 54.3 percent of the votes, twice as many as AfD candidate Ivo Teichmann (23.9 percent).
Incumbent Henry Graichen (CDU) in the Leipzig district also achieved an absolute majority with 69.9 percent of the votes.
He was also supported by the Greens.
As expected, the people of Dresden also have to go to the polls again.
On Sunday, incumbent Dirk Hilbert was clearly ahead with 32.5 percent of the votes, but it wasn't enough for a win.
The second ballot is scheduled for July 10th.
Hilbert stood up for the alliance »Independent Citizens for Dresden«, which is also supported by the CDU.
as/dpa